The Star (ca): “An Island is more than just a band documentary; it’s a love letter to family, roots, small-town life and the social/communal power of music to unify people … a mesmerizing 50 minutes … it’s universal and great viewing even if you’ve never heard of Efterklang”

Not long after the completion of 3rd album Magic Chairs in 2010, indie powerhouse EFTERKLANG and friends (amongst them Nils Frahm, Peter & Heather Broderick), together with French filmmaker VINCENT MOON took a sojourn to the island of Als off the Danish coast, with the simple aim of shooting a film. “A film with the same length as an album, and a film full of performances, experiments and collaborations”. Why Als? It’s the bandmembers’ hometown, which made AN ISLAND – the end product of 4 days spent playing music with local people and having fun (in the process utilizing balloons, a cleaning broom, a truck, four pianos being played at the same time and other weird stuff) – at its core a comforting trip down the memory lane. The locations had significant meanings. The people the band grew up with. “I remember I saw you at high school, walking everyday as if you were ten minutes late”.

At this point, you would be forgiven if in your head those letters are piecing themselves together: H, E, I,.. you tell me. But while most of the time Sigur Rós’ Heima feels just as otherworldly and widescreen as the magnificent Icelandic landscapes, An Island oozes with earthly images, colours and tones – grainy, honest and beautiful, due in no small part to Vincent Moon’s fascinating vision that saw him making a name with La Blogothèque’s Take Away Shows. Like in that series, here Moon came up with an abundance of clever experiments in filming and sound-making inspired by the spirit of Cinéma vérité.

Ultimately, the film tells more about the band than what a (proper) documentary or countless interviews could achieve. You get to know the most important fact about Efterklang: that they are one of the most smile-inducing bands in the world. Would you not smile when a bunch of 6/7-yeard-old joined a heartfelt performance of Me Me Me The Brick House (shot at the school the band used to go to) – the lyrics hinting at lost innocence and star-crossed lovers; or during that segment when the bandmembers were playing music with their parents in a barn belonging to the bass player’s family: him showing his father how to play the synthesizer, while above them, on a basketball backboard we could see his name and a smiling face – someone must have drawn those in their childhood.

One is in equal measures amazed and fascinated upon visiting Piramida, the Russian mining town on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, which remains deserted as if it was a fictional setting of the time after World War III. The human beings are gone, but the minimalist concrete apartment blocks remain and bear witness to the life that was. Here, the Danish band Efterklang goes ashore to collect the site’s melancholia and soul in the form of small soundbites, which form the framework for their latest album, ‘Piramida’.

Accompanied by their taciturn and not visibly impressed Russian guide, the group goes on a treasure hunt in the empty building, while the narrator, the Piramida-citizen Alexander, takes us back to a bygone era, when Piramida flourished and the immigrant Russian miners and their families lived in a Soviet parallel society far from the horrors of their homeland. In old-style Russian, the social pleasures of the community in this communist mini utopia are praised while Efterklang’s collected sounds take shape and beautifully accompany the enchanting tale about the place’s rise and fall. The story of this lost place is adventurous and melancholy, and leaves a deep impression long after the credits have stopped rolling. Enchanting.

Hanoi Grapevine is an important and active promoter of the arts in Vietnam. We provide bilingual content of high-quality art and culture happenings in the contemporary landscape of the country and offer reviews by interested, informed and opinionated commentators. We also organize events and the Grapevine Selection is a highlight.